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Foudil Rerizani
I’ve always been a Mill Road lad…
Foudil Rerizani is the owner of one of Cambridge’s most popular restaurants, Al Casbah, on Mill Road. In this interview he talks to David Lambert about coming to Mill Road, aged eighteen from Algeria, thirty five years ago. |
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I came to the UK aged eighteen from Algiers the capital of Algeria in 1973. I remember the date: September 10, 1973. I only came to learn English and do some further studies and go back, but here I am thiry five years later!
Why Cambridge? Well a friend of mine had been here in 1963 at the Bell School. The newly independent Algeria needed all sorts of people. He returned and went on to become the President’s English interpreter. I did a diploma in business studies and actually set up a student discount service which was quite successful.
I got into the restaurant business I guess because my mother, right back when I was a kid, always made cakes to sell. My dad died when I was about one year old and she brought us all up single handed, never remarried. So we kids used to go selling these patisseries door to door after school, you know. I’d take the money and sell cakes and I developed a taste for it. So here I am, still catering for people.
You know, my grandfather was in business, so I get it from him, too. He lived in a part of Algiers called the casbah. That’s a lot of little streets where there are markets selling all sorts of stuff. In fact, that’s why this restaurant is called Al Casbah (The Casbah). In Arabic the word for flute is very similar to the word which describes this warren of streets because the market and the instrument both have lots of little exits. This restaurant is long and narrow too. So I called it Al Casbah. The décor attracts people, the tent ceiling. We’re the only North African restaurant in Cambridge. This was a sweet shop when I took it over eleven years ago; we added a kitchen extension and made some alterations. We serve typical traditional North African dishes, like tagine and couscous, as well as Mediterranean food. I’ve never advertised, never spent a penny on advertising. I don’t believe in it. It’s all word of mouth.
Before I opened this place I had another on Mill Road. (I’ve always been here, you might say I’m a Mill Road lad!) It’s called the Bedouin but I never actually opened it. It’s ready to open tomorrow, it has authentic low tables, klims on the walls, everything. But I can’t be in two places at once. I’m not two people. The idea was that the kids would run this place and I’d run the Bedouin, but their lives have taken them in a different direction. I have five kids: the two eldest are working, one son is studying construction at university, and the younger two are coming up to GCSEs.
When I was a boy of ten growing up in Algiers, we had a very bloody war of independence against the French. As a kid, I remember a soldier pointing a gun at me from ten metres away. That’s war. We broke away from France in 1962 but I have no hard feelings against the French. They were part of my life; we were taught French in school and spoke it fluently on the streets of the city along with Arabic. Algiers was always a very sophisticated place. When I came here I fitted in quite easily, England suited my temperament. I’d grown up watching TV shows like The Avengers and I liked the Hammer horror films and Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. So I had some idea of what England might be like before I came.
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What do I do when I’m not working? Sleep. Just sleep! I’m a workaholic. In this kind of business you don’t have time for a social life. It’s very hard to find good staff and you have to be here not just like the boss, but working like a donkey! You know, I often don’t get home till four a.m. in the morning, never before two a.m. Holiday? No time. I went to Algeria a while ago to open a restaurant with my cousin. A working holiday. At least it creates jobs; now ten families live off it.
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Algeria is the second largest country in Africa, and really beautiful. The capital where I lived is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea. We have oil and gas so we haven’t really bothered with tourism like our neighbours on either side, Tunisia and Morocco. After the French left in the 60s young Algerians had to train quickly to give the country doctors and pilots and other professionals. That’s what happens after 130 years of colonisation. A lot of Algerians trained in France and England then went back home. I just happened to stay here. But when I leave England to go to Algeria it’s home to home.
How has Britain changed since I first came here? Well, it’s a different world! I mean, the world is a frightening place as you see it on the TV news. I think it’s greed that does it. But the people I meet in life have no problem with each other. The Jews and Muslims I know all get on. When I first came to Cambridge I noticed more respect for elders, people opened doors for ladies. Now that’s going. But it’s happening in Algeria too. It’s technology, people are more materialistic. I’d say that Algerians have stronger family values and more respect for parents. Here you aren’t allowed to smack your child to discipline him. Kids are not told off for swearing – how can they respect their elders? It’s gone too far, in my opinion, but I’m no politician. As a father with my cultural background, there is sometimes a clash because my kids grew up here, so they have British values. Thank God I took them every summer to Algeria and they speak Arabic and at least know our values. Otherwise there’d be a bigger clash. They’re fine though, in fact they are fantastic kids.
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